EPISODE I
Chapter 5: The Contact
The next day, Zolph Vaelor travelled to Hutt Space, still recovering from the effects of the Yuuzhan Vong war. Sleheyron, one of the few worlds to avoid the wrath of the Vong, now took the place of both Nal Hutta and its moon Nar Shaddaa as the most active part of Hutt Space.
Zolph's Z-95 entered Sleheyron's atmosphere. As he approached the surface, he saw a large city, not quite as large as those on Coruscant, Nar Shaddaa or Taris. He eventually docked on a small landing pad attached to the large estate of local crime lord, Girdretto.
Zolph exited his vessel and noticed two combat droids, similar in design to the EV-series, armed with blaster staves next to the door. He approached the door and one of the droids spoke. "What business do you have trespassing on Master Girdretto's estate?"
"I wish to speak with Girdretto over some…. important matters" Zolph said to the droid.
"Use the panel next to the door. Master Girdretto will be with you shortly."
Zolph then pressed a button on the intercom panel with a camera above it and a voice came from it. "What do you want?"
"An associate of yours told me you know something about some alien ruins on Tatooine."
"Who told you about…? Va'Za spilled the beans, didn't he?"
"Yep, he told me everything he knew."
"I knew it! You're that Jedi who killed him! Sorry, I can't let you in after that!"
Zolph then waved his hand. "You will allow me into your estate."
The Toydarian then spoke in a deadpan tone. "I'm assuming Va'Za didn't tell you what species I am."
Zolph then hit himself in the forehead for forgetting that minor detail.
"Now get off my landing pad or my guys will turn you and your ship into scraps!"
Zolph then cut down the bodyguard droids. "You were saying?"
"Good luck trying to get in."
Zolph then tried to stab into the door with his lightsaber, but the blade bounced off before it could burn into it.
"Nice try. I foresaw that some Jedi would eventually come to my estate, so I had the doors made out of Phrik."
Zolph then readied a detonation pack.
"Phrik can resist as much as a planetary explosion. You'll just blow yourself and the landing pad up."
"Fine. You win for now. But this isn't over!" Zolph then got back in his vessel and flew off to a public hangar.
After Zolph docked and exited his vessel, his comlink started ringing. He immediately answered as he walked out of the hangar. "If you're wondering how I'm doing, that gas-gutted bird won't let me in."
"Ouch." Luke said in response. "However, that isn't why I'm calling. I just got a contact that wants to see you here on Sleheyron."
"A contact? That may give me plenty of time to brainstorm getting in the estate. Who is this contact and what does he want?"
"She. She says her name is Grein and she wants to meet you at the Flying Lamp Cantina, but she won't say anything else."
"A cantina? Where will I find it?"
"It's repulsorlift-powered and it gets its name from its appearance, so you shouldn't be able to miss it."
"And about what Grein? How will I know what she looks like?"
"She says she's a purple-eyed Chiss with teal highlights in her hair. You shouldn't be able to miss her."
Zolph laughed in disbelief at the notion of a Chiss with an eye-color other than red. "Sorry, but I'll only believe the purple-eyes part when I see them. Other than that, she should be pretty easy to find." He then deactivated his comlink at an airspeeder rental lot. He borrowed a blue airspeeder and flew towards the Flying Lamp Cantina.
Flying several stories above-ground, Zolph eventually spotted the Flying Lamp Cantina, a building with a roof resembling a lampshade resting on a repulsorlift-supported platform, with several more airspeeders parked on it. He then flew towards it and docked.
Before he could step foot in the cantina, he was stopped by a Houk bouncer. "Hey! Only members are allowed to bring in weapons! I will hold onto them until you leave."
Zolph then responded, "Fine" and handed over his lightsaber and other weapons. "But I highly doubt that prevents the occasional bar fight." He then walked into the cantina door.
The inside of the Flying Lamp was illuminated by neon lights and had two levels, the second of which was in the roof. There were many patrons of various species. However, finding a Chiss with the described features wouldn't be too difficult.
Zolph walked up to the bar and its Ithorian tender spoke to him. "Another new face. And a human, too. We don't get many of you, here. What can I get for you?"
Zolph spoke, "I'm just looking for someone."
"I get a lot of people here. Can you please be more specific so I can help you out?"
"She said she was a Chiss with teal highlights in her hair."
"There's someone like that on the second floor. However, the only Chiss-like features she has are being near-human and having blue skin, so I wouldn't necessarily say she is one. Otherwise, she's really hard to miss."
"Okay, thanks for the tip." Zolph then handed the Ithorian a credit chip and headed up to the second floor ring.
On the second floor, Zolph eventually spotted a lone woman with a black body suit and dark green scarf sitting at one of the cubbyhole tables. The woman was also a Chiss with mostly bluish-black hair with the forehead bangs as well as part of her side bangs dyed teal. She also had violet eyeballs, an unusual eye color for her species.
Zolph spoke to her, "I take it you're Grein? If so, you really weren't kidding about the eye color."
"Yes, and I take it you're Zolph Vaelor. I'm not surprised by your disbelief. And make no mistake, I am a Chiss. I'm just a rare breed."
"Okay, biological anomalies aside, why did you call me over to this airborne scum bucket?"
"I caught word of your exploits on Tatooine."
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I killed Va'Za the Hutt for trying to eat a slave girl alive, I've most likely earned the ire of his clan, and now the local crime boss here won't let me in to his hideout."
"Even if you didn't kill his associate, Girdretto still wouldn't let you in. But almost everyone in Hutt Space knows you did that. That's not the exploit I'm talking about. It's related to your current war with the Valkoran."
"What are you...?"
"Don't even hide anything from me, and I won't tell anyone else. I heard from some Valkoran agents stationed here that you killed some dangerous creature in some alien ruins. Am I right?"
"Yes, you are. What about it?"
Before they could question each other further, three completely identical androgynous humanoid figures with elongated limbs walked into the cantina. They were slouched over and were armored from head to toe in black, including a mask with four lenses that made their entire face look like a camera lens, and from each mask extended a cape going down their back. They were also armed with what looked a cross between a rifle and a pike, with the blade functioning as the rifle's stock.
Grein then told Zolph to get down under the table.
The bartender then spoke to the figures, "Is the bouncer sleeping on the job?! Only members are allowed to bring in weapons!" He then noticed a pool of blood outside the cantina doorway, and then noticed blood on one of the figures' blades. He then tried to speak with the figures, but they ignored him, readied their weapons into firing position and started firing randomly around the cantina, killing a few patrons. The bartender put down a blast shield over the bar in fear. Some of the patrons tried to run out, but they were shot down too.
Zolph then spoke from under the table, "What is their problem? Are they mad at the establishment or something?"
"They're here to kill you." Grein answered.
"I don't even know these guys! What did I ever do to them?! Did Girdretto send someone to strong arm me?!"
"They are not associated with any criminal groups."
"Then who are they?"
Zolph tried to get out from under the table, but Grein warned him, "Careful. They are clearly trying to draw you out and they know you are here. Besides, you're unarmed."
"Trap or not, I am not going to sit by and endanger these people's lives by doing nothing! Besides even without a weapon, I've still got my fists and the Force."
"I won't stop you, but please be careful. These are not your average sentient beings."
As Zolph got out from under the table and walked downstairs, the creatures turned towards him and immediately fired, to which he responded by swiftly dodging.
"Okay, who are you guys and what do you want?"
None of them spoke, and fired at him again.
"Okay, you guys clearly want to kill me, but why?"
They fired at him again.
"Alright, I'm assuming you guys can't even talk?"
One of them made an unintelligible sound before shooting at him again
"I don't know what you said or if you actually spoke, but you're clearly not interested in speaking. I'll just let you talk to my fists." He then lunged towards one of the masked figures, but then they started slashing at him.
He dodged a few slashes and then kicked one of them in the pelvis. The creature did not react with as much pain as most creatures would from such an attack.
"Okay, I take it you guys don't have reproductive organs either." The creature he just kicked then knocked him to the floor with their polearm.
The figure then got ready to impale him on the ground, but before they could land a killing blow, a yellow laser blade erupted from between the eyes on their mask, causing them to go limp and drop their weapon. The laser retracted and the figure dropped dead. The killer was none other than Grein.
The remaining two figures diverted their attention towards the violet-eyed Chiss, but she then drew out her weapon: a lightsaber with a yellow blade and four shorter blades of the same color forming a cross-guard.
One of them crossed blades with her, but Grein severed the pike's blade from its roots with the cross-guard while blade-locked and then decapitated the figure.
The last figure fired at her, but she then jumped towards them and vertically bisected them. She then deactivated her lightsaber.
Zolph looked at her, wide-eyed in disbelief. "How is that thing even safe to wield?"
"Lots of practice" Grein answered. "If you just stayed under the table, I would have killed them myself."
"Are you a Jedi? Because I've never even heard of you."
"Yes and no. I wield a lightsaber and use the Force, but I'm neither a Jedi or a Dark Jedi." She then spoke to the bartender and the rest of the patrons, "Everyone, you may want to close down the Flying Lamp, leave Sleheyron and not come back for a very long time."
"I was thinking the same thing, Grein. I have a bad feeling about what's to come" the bartender agreed with her.
Outside the Flying Lamp building, Zolph retrieved his lightsaber from the Houk bouncer's corpse and questioned Grein. "Who the heck were those guys?"
"It's a long story, but whatever you came here to do in the first place, we have to do it now, because we need to leave this planet soon."
" 'We'? When did I say you were tagging along?"
"I know more about those things than you do and you're going to need my help, so I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."
"Sorry, my ship's one-manned. What are you going to do about that?"
"I hate to break it to you, but Girdretto's thugs most likely vandalized your ship while you were out. However, I've got a freighter in hiding."
"Okay, you can come with me. Besides, I do want to know more. And speaking of Girdretto, I still need to talk with him."
"You came here just for that? I don't really think that's necessary."
"I really need some info from him."
"Alright," Grein agreed with reluctance. "I happen to know a secret entrance into his hideout."
"Oh, I never would've guessed." Zolph responded sarcastically. "Where is this secret entrance?"
"The city's sewer system."
"I knew it wouldn't be anywhere pleasant."
Later, Zolph and Grein found themselves at a manhole in Sleheyron's streets. Zolph asked Grein "Are we going to need gas masks?"
"Don't worry." Grein responded. "It's actually pretty spacious for a sewer, and you won't smell so bad coming out of it. However, we still have to watch out for Dianogas."
"Of course, no sewer can be complete without them. And you thought it was bad enough having those squids attack you while sitting on a toilet."
"Just get in the manhole." Grein commanded Zolph with annoyance before they immediately climbed down the ladder.
Climbing down, Zolph was greeted to an unusually mild stench for a sewer, mostly due to the open space. "It's not too bad, but it still smells like something died down here.
Grein retorted. "Like I said, that's not the worst part. We've still got the common sewer-dwelling cephalopods to worry about."
The two of them moved forward.
As they progressed through the sewer, they not only predictably encountered Dianogas coming out of drainage pipes and piles of sewage, but also two Gran thugs. Zolph questioned Grein. "How often have you been in this sewer?"
"Enough to memorize the layout," Grein answered. "And before you criticize me, Girdretto's always had sewer patrols since he made the secret entrance." The two of them then deflected the thugs' blaster shots back at them and continued moving forward.
Eventually, the two of them reached a turbolift. "Well, this is the one." Grein said.
"It's about time! I was getting tired of seeing almost the exact same thing in this place." Zolph spoke.
They then got on the turbolift and took it upward towards Girdretto's hideout.
Reaching the inside of Girdretto's hideout, Zolph and Grein were greeted by brighter color and lighting, a smell that wasn't the stench of feces, and two guards, a Kubaz and a Devaronian. The guards attacked, but were swiftly dispatched.
As the two moved through the estate, they dealt with guard droids similar to the ones that guarded the entrance as well as guards of various species, including humans, Rodians, Gamorreans, Whiphids, Advosec, Quarren and several others.
The two of them eventually reached Girdretto's office and were greeted by the Toydarian kingpin, slightly less pudgy than usual for his species and bearing an eyepatch. "So the pipsqueak finally made it in. And I see you brought that Chiss girl."
"Yeah." Zolph responded. "You and I need to have a chat about your dealings with Va'Za."
Girdretto then pressed a button on his desk and a door in his large office opened and out of the door came a Nexu wearing a collar. He then tauntingly spoke. "I won't have to tell you anything if you're meat for my pet!"
The Nexu lunged at Zolph and pinned him on the floor. Before the large four-eyed, multi-toothed feline could bite his face off, Grein cut off its tail and Zolph then ignited his lightsaber through the beast's chest. He then pushed its corpse off of him.
Grein then spoke to Girdretto. "Sorry, Girdo, but Nexu only work against single opponents."
Zolph then joined. "And now that your freaky four-eyed cat monster is out of the way, you can spill your guts out. Now tell me what you know about those ruins on Tatooine and that creature in it."
Girdretto answered. "Why would I be interested in that dusty shrine?" He then looked at Grein. "She only gave me that information in exchange for her freedom and told me I could profit from selling it."
Zolph then looked at Grein and she replied. "That's why I told you this wasn't necessary."
Zolph responded with irritation, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I wanted to, but no, you just wanted to go through with your original plan."
"And really, why did you tell him this? I can't imagine someone like you being taken into slavery."
Before she could answer, Grein's eyes widened with horror, sensing a disturbance in the Force. "We have to leave! Now!"
